CuJK, X/A du., 
Traill’s Flycatcher. Empidonax traillii (Aud.). 
The breeding range attributed to this Flycatcher has puzzled 
ornithologists not a little, — and with good reason, for east of the 
Alleghany Mountains the bird appears to be practically confined 
to the Canadian fauna, whereas in the Mississippi Valley it 
breeds at least as far south as southern Illinois ; in the one case 
associating (in a faunal sense) with such northern birds as 
Swainson’s Thrushes, Winter Wrens, Canada Jays and Three-toed 
Woodpeckers, in the other with such southern forms as Caro- 
lina Wrens, Tufted and Carolina Titmice, Cardinal and Blue 
Grosbeaks and Bachman’s Sparrow. I have long suspected, 
however, that the Traill’s Flycatcher of Ohio, Indiana and 
southern Illinois is not the same bird as that which breeds in 
northern New England, and a recent examination of the material 
in the collection' of the United States National Museum and 
Department of Agriculture has confirmed this impression which, 
it may be added, is now shared by Mr. Ridgway, Dr. Merriam and 
Capt. Bendire, who have also given the matter careful attention. 
I did not at first suppose that the question affected more than 
the identification of certain of the Mississippi Valley specimens, 
but it proves to have a broader significance, as will be presently 
shown. The type locality of Muscicapa traillii Aud. was the 
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guishable from the latter, considered as a whole tne series oi 
breeding birds which I have examined from the United States 
at large, west of the Alleghanies and south of the 42nd parallel, 
may be regarded, without much violence, as belonging to one 
and the same form. 
The name which this form should bear is a matter of some 
uncertainty for although Platyrhynchus pusillus Swainson ante- 
dates Muscicapa traillii Audubon by several years it is not 
determinable by Swainson’s original description (Syn. Mex. 
Birds, Phil. Mag., I, 1827, p. 366). In the Fauna Boreali- 
Americana (Part second, 1831, pp. 144-146) this author 
describes and figures under the name “ Tyrannula pusilla 
(Swainson) ” a Flycatcher taken at “ Carlton House, lat. 33° 
N., May, 1827,” which he says is smaller than the T. querula 
of Wilson [= Empidonax virescens (Vieillot)] “ particularly in 
the bill, which is rather broader towards the middle, although 
formed on the same model,” and in respect to the wings which 
“are much shorter” measuring “only 2 inches” in length. He 
